Pham Van Dong

Pham Van Dong (1 March 1906-29 April 2000) was Prime Minister of North Vietnam from 20 September 1955 to 2 July 1976 and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Vietnam from 2 July 1976 to 18 June 1987, preceding Pham Hung.

Biography
Pham Van Dong was born in Mo Duc, Quang Ngai Province, French Indochina in 1906, and he met Ho Chi Minh in southern China in 1926. In 1929, he began working for the revolutionary association in Saigon, and he was imprisoned by the French from 1929 to 1936. He joined the Indochinese Communist Party in 1940, and he became Finance Minister of North Vietnam in 1945, serving until 1954. In 1954, he headed the North Vietnamese delegation to the Geneva talks which led to Vietnamese independence, and he went on to serve as Prime Minister of North Vietnam from 1955 to 1976. He had close links with the Chinese government and secured its support during the Vietnam War, and he also took part in the Paris Peace Accords which ended the war. He continued to serve as Prime Minister with the title of Chairman of the Council of Ministers until 1987.